General Outlook on 2004 Malaysia Monitor Market

19 March, 2004

Kuala Lumpur, March 19, 2004 – The final results for 2003 from IDC's Quarterly Monitor Tracker Malaysia has shown that the Malaysian experienced a 4% growth over the previous year. 675,930 monitors were sold into the Malaysian Market in 2003. The fourth quarter experienced the highest sales, reaching 177,797 units of Monitor, representing a growth of 7% over the same period in 2002 and a 5% growth sequentially over the previous quarter.

"As always the monitor market is closely linked with the PC market," said Lincoln Lee, Monitor Research Analyst, IDC Malaysia. "However this growth was driven by strong sales in the branded monitor market i.e. monitors sold by manufacturers such as Philips and Samsung. Branded monitor market comprised 61% of the total market in 2003 which signals a strong replacement market cycle."

CRT Vs LCD

The majority of monitor sales are comprised of bulky sized CRT monitors, which made up 84% of total monitor shipments. On the LCD market, despite experiences supply shortages in the LCD market, LCD monitor sales has experienced phenomenal growth throughout 2003. Although prices for mainstream LCD monitors sizes have been rising during the 2nd half of 2003, these price increases had little apparent impact on sales. IDC expects LCD monitor sales will grow strongly in the coming years and should surpass CRT sales in 2008.

Branded Vendor Highlights

The monitor market is divided into OEM and Branded. The OEM market will cover the main multinational PC manufacturers such as Dell, HP , Apple, IBM, Acer and NEC. On the other hand the branded monitor market as defined by IDC are manufacturers such as Samsung, Philips, LG Electronics who manufacture and market their monitors under their own branding. The top 3 vendors in 2002, namely Samsung, Philips and LG Electronics has not only maintained their position in the market but has also further strengthened their position in the Malaysia Market. BenQ has risen from 6th position in 2002 to overtake local player Likom in 2003 as the 4th top vendor in Malaysia with a growth of 46%.

2004 Outlook

"The Malaysian monitor market in 2004 appears promising. With the latest announcement on PC Gemilang and the bullish economic forecast, the Monitor market is expected to witness healthy growth this year," according to Mr. Lee "IDC expects further phenomenal growth for the LCD market, as vendors will shift their focus towards these more lucrative and attractive monitors."

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